


alone time

by InsideMyBrain



Category: Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon)
Genre: Banter, Crushes, Episode: s01e03 Temporal Edict, F/M, Fantasy, Flirting, Imagination, Mariner's Favourite Place(tm), the brig - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26077234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsideMyBrain/pseuds/InsideMyBrain
Summary: What happens in the brig stays in the brig.
Relationships: Beckett Mariner/Jack Ransom
Comments: 3
Kudos: 62





	alone time

The door to the brig swished open, and Mariner bolted upright on the bed. "Hey, Boims," she called out, "you come to tell me I shouldn't have- oh." She cut herself off as she realized it wasn't Boimler approaching her cell but Commander Jack Ransom. She slumped against the wall, feigning disinterest.

"Who's Boims?" he asked, coming to a stop beside the force field. He propped one leg up on a crate placed conveniently beside her cell. Mariner thought it was probably put there for that express purpose.

"No one important," she replied. "What are you doing here?" 

Ransom sighed and rolled his eyes. "I came to tell you, you're free to go. Apparently, throwing someone in the brig for not following dress code is 'too extreme' and 'a lawsuit waiting to happen.'" He made air quotes around the terms. "Even if you did resist arrest."

Mariner yawned and stretched. "Well, thanks, but I'm good."

He raised his thick eyebrows. "You're good?"

She grinned and winked at him. "Why thank you."

"You know that's not what I meant. You wanna stay in the brig?"

Mariner pillowed her arms behind her head on the cold metal of her cell's wall. "Yeah, it's a nice break in here. Like shore leave while also on duty. You should try it sometime." She closed her eyes.

There was a short silence, then the buzzing of the force field being shut off. "Alright," came Ransom's voice, then his footsteps coming closer. 

Mariner cracked an eye open. "What are you doing?"

"Trying it out," Ransom said, standing beside the bed. "Scoot over."

Mariner did so, smiling slightly. "Like I said, you're not all bad sometimes."

Ransom sat beside her, closer than he needed to be, as the bed was plenty wide for friendly, employee-and-boss-appropriate space between them. Their thighs pressed together. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. "Wow, this sucks."

"Never mind," Mariner huffed.

Ransom opened his eyes and grinned. He had perfect white, straight teeth, because of course he did. He smelled nice too, like orange and sandalwood and something unidentifiable, or however those bodice-rippers described the love interest. "Maybe it won't suck so much with you beside me, though."

"That's the worst line I've heard in a while," Mariner told him. "You're lucky I have a soft spot for you."

"And I've got a _hard_ spot for you," he said softly.

"Gross," Mariner replied, but she was already leaning in for a kiss. This time, he leaned in too, his eyes sliding shut, and a thrill skipped up her spine as their lips finally met in a crushing, _passionate_ -

"Mariner!"

Mariner's eyes flew open and she bolted upright on the bed. She glared at the intruder who'd disrupted her little fantasy - Boimler. Of course.

"When you said you loved the brig, I didn't think you meant it was because you got to take a nap," he said, walking up to her cell. 

"I wasn't napping," she said, crossing her arms. "I was thinking."

"I wasn't aware you did much of that." Boimler pressed a button on the side of her cell, and the force field fizzled out of existence. "About what?"

"About, uh, how stupid that side part looks on you, for starters," she said quickly, gesturing to his hair.

"Oh God, really?" He asked, quickly re-parting it in the middle. "Is this any better?" 

"Nah, worse. Your hair is just stupid all around."

Boimler ruffled his hair, and it flopped back into its normal part. "You were in here thinking about different ways to insult me, and you only came up with that?"

"Shut up, man. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I came to get you out. Your punishment time has elapsed."

Mariner stood from the bed and stretched. "Aw, already? I was just getting started."

Boimler rolled his eyes as she stepped out of the cell. "Seriously, what were you thinking about that whole time? Because it could not have been me."

"Ah, Boims," she said, throwing an arm around his shoulder, "what happens in the brig, stays in the brig."


End file.
